"Conspiracy theories are a ubiquitous feature of our times. The Handbook of Conspiracy Theories and Contemporary Religion is the first reference work to offer a comprehensive, transnational overview of this phenomenon along with in-depth discussions of how conspiracy theories relate to religion(s).
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Bringing together experts from a wide range of disciplines, from psychology and philosophy to political science and the history of religions, the book sets the standard for the interdisciplinary study of religion and conspiracy theories." (Publisher description)
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"This research is aimed at assessing national vulnerabilities and preparedness to counteract foreign-led disinformation in 14 countries of Eastern and Central Europe. The Visegrad states (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia), Eastern Partnership countries (Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia
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, Moldova, Ukraine), the Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) and Romania are covered. An integral part of the research is the Disinformation Resilience Index, which is quantitative assessment of exposure to Kremlin-led disinformation and the level of national resilience to disinformation campaigns." (Page 1)
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"This book examines small cinemas and their presentation of society in times of crisis and conflict from an interdisciplinary and intercultural point of view. The authors concentrate on economic, social and political challenges and point to new phenomena which have been exposed by film directors. Th
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ey present essays on, among others, Basque cinema; gendered controversies in post-communist small cinemas in Slovakia and Czech Republic; ethnic stereotypes in the works of Polish filmmakers; stereotypical representation of women in Japanese avant-garde; post-communist political myths in Hungary; the separatist movements of Catalonia; people in diasporas and during migrations. In view of these timely topics, the book touches on the most serious social and political problems. The films discussed provide an excellent platform for enhancing debates on politics, gender, migration and new aesthetics in cinema at departments of history, sociology, literature and film." (Back cover)
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"This article explores the dynamics of digital (dis)information in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. International Relations scholars have presented the online debate in terms of ‘information warfare’—that is, a number of strategic campaigns to win over local and global public opinion,
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largely orchestrated by the Kremlin and pro-western authorities. However, this way of describing the online debate reduces civil society to a mere target for manipulation. This article presents a different understanding of the debate. By examining the social media engagement generated by one of the conflict's most important events—the downing of the Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 (MH17) over Ukraine—we explore how competing claims about the cause of the plane crash are disseminated by the state, media and civil society. By analysing approximately 950,000 tweets, the article demonstrates how individual citizens are more than purveyors of government messages; they are the most active drivers of both disinformation and attempts to counter such information. These citizen curators actively shape competing narratives about why MH17 crashed and citizens, as a group, are four times more likely to be retweeted than any other type of user. Our findings challenge conceptualizations of a state-orchestrated information war over Ukraine, and point to the importance of citizen activity in the struggle over truths during international conflicts." (Abstract)
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"Publics around the world overwhelmingly agree that the news media should be unbiased in their coverage of political issues, according to a new Pew Research Center survey of 38 countries. Yet, when asked how their news media are doing on reporting different political issues fairly, people are far mo
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re mixed in their sentiments, with many saying their media do not deliver. And, in many countries, there are sharp political differences in views of the media – with the largest gap among Americans. To build off Pew Research Center’s earlier findings about U.S. news media habits and attitudes, this new cross-national survey begins to study these dynamics globally. The survey finds that a median of 75% across 38 countries say it is never acceptable for a news organization to favor one political party over others when reporting the news. Just 20% say this is sometimes okay. People in Europe show the greatest opposition to political bias in their news." (Page 3)
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"As before, the popularity of TV among older viewers (46+) greatly contributes to its leading position in the media consumption totals. As usual, residents in the western regions comprise the largest TV audience among all regions of Ukraine. 1+1 and Inter remain the most popular TV channels in the c
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ountry. Digital (internet) media remains the most popular news source among younger audiences, with internet users aged 18-45 years preferring news sites, and youth (up to 35 years old) – social networks. As before, most consumers prefer news aggregators (like ukr.net) over other digital media outlets. The social media consumption patterns keep changing – the Facebook audience is gradually growing, while the Russian social networks have lost their leading positions.The levels of trust in both national and regional media have increased in all media categories. This trend was observed in all regions of Ukraine. Public trust in Russian media remains low - in fact, levels of trust in Russian TV, radio and press continue to decrease year in and year out since 2014." (Key findings, page 5)
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"While Ukrainians consume a high volume of news content, barely one in four Ukrainians trust the media and only 23% cross-check news sources—the most basic form of media literacy [...] In this context, IREX designed and implemented Learn to Discern (L2D), a “demand-side” response to the proble
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m of manipulative information, an essential companion to “supply-side” solutions such as supporting independent, ethical, and truthful journalism. Citizens must be able to separate fact from fiction, recognize manipulation and hate speech, and demand and seek out independent, fact-based journalism. From October 2015 through March 2016, IREX implemented L2D with funding from the Canadian government and in partnerships with local organizations Academy of Ukrainian Press and StopFake. Through intensive skill-building seminars, L2D reached more than 15,000 people of all ages and professional backgrounds [...] The results of the impact evaluation showed that L2D participants had statistically significant higher levels of disinformation news analysis skills, greater knowledge of the news media environment, a stronger sense of agency over the media sources they consume, and were more likely to consult a wider range of news sources. Compared to the control group, L2D participants were: 28% more likely to demonstrate sophisticated knowledge of the news media industry; 25% more likely to self-report checking multiple news sources; 13% more likely to correctly identify and critically analyze a fake news story." (Executive summary, page 3-4)
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"Der Band beschäftigt sich mit der Verschärfung des politischen Diskurses zwischen Ost und West, die vielfach in den westlichen Medien kritisierte Renationalisierung der osteuropäischen Gesellschaften, ihr „neo-konservativer“ Trend, der sich auch und gerade in den Medien spiegelt. Russland is
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t dafür das klassische, vielzitierte Beispiel, aber auch Serbien, Polen oder Ungarn haben hier in jüngster Zeit aufgeschlossen. Wie sich dies entwickelt hat, die politischen Prämissen und Hintergründe, der Einfluss, der auf die Redaktionspolitik ausgeübt wird, wie osteuropäische Medien die westliche Kritik empfinden und interpretieren, wird hier beschrieben und analysiert. Ist der Wandel der Berichterstattung und Kommentierung in den osteuropäischen Medien, der auch im Westen Widerhall findet, Indiz für größere politische und gesellschaftliche Umbrüche in Europa?" (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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"The Russian state media failed to provide sufficient information about political alternatives to incumbent Vladimir Putin ahead of the 18 March presidential election. Coverage on nationwide private channels was similarly limited. For the 2018 presidential election, a strong and independent media pr
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oviding unbiased coverage of the political situation in the country, thereby enabling the electorate to make an informed choice, were significantly lacking. Alexey Navalny, who was barred from running as a candidate, called for a boycott of the election. His political position was largely ignored by most of the monitored broadcast media, with the exception of TV Dozhd and Radio Ekho Moskvy. The nature of the election process, whereby the incumbent refrained in most respects from conventional campaign discourse, including non-participation in public debates, and the only real opponent was barred from running as a candidate, did not provide basic conditions necessary for a normal democratic election. First Channel, Russia 1, NTV and Ren TV, offered viewers an extremely limited range of political viewpoints. They presented only the official Kremlin position, and failed to offer any independent or alternative views, or any critical reporting challenging the performance of the authorities." (Executive summary)
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"The Middle East media landscape provides Russian state with unique opportunities. A region with strong state-controlled media, weak independent outlets, and a burgeoning reliance on social media—along with a historical suspicion of Western news sources—has created useful openings that the Kreml
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in exploits to advance its agenda. Russia presents its own media as a better alternative to other Arabic-language networks, and it has a more receptive audience in the region than in the West. Today, the RT Arabic and Sputnik Arabic websites are the two most visible outlets of Moscow’s propaganda influence. Analysis of these sites shows both continuity with the Kremlin’s traditional propaganda goals and adaptation of tried-and-true methods to advance them. These outlets cultivate an image of Moscow as a great power in the Middle East and focus heavily on social media. Unsurprisingly, they also advance a divisive, conspiratorial, anti-Western ideology. Deeper investigation, however, reveals a more nuanced approach aimed at building credibility with Arab audiences through coverage of human interest and domestic issues—especially in Egypt—and through efforts to develop relationships with other local and regional media. As this Kremlin-funded information operation gains local traction and viewers, it increasingly poses a challenge to U.S. interests in the Middle East." (Page 2)
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"The authors present regional trends from Sub-Saharan Africa, the Americas, and Eastern Europe in light of global developments in investigative reporting, taking into consideration different muckraking cultures, and share examples of successful strategies of investigative media outlets. They suggest
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that a comprehensive and collaborative approach in supporting investigative media is needed to ensure a viable future for investigative media as well as the sector itself. For this, a model describing elements specific to the viability of investigative journalism is presented to help media startups, donors, media development NGOs identify possible areas of support." (Abstract)
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"Conspiracy theories are a ubiquitous feature of our times. The Handbook of Conspiracy Theories and Contemporary Religion is the first reference work to offer a comprehensive, transnational overview of this phenomenon along with in-depth discussions of how conspiracy theories relate to religion(s).
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Bringing together experts from a wide range of disciplines, from psychology and philosophy to political science and the history of religions, the book sets the standard for the interdisciplinary study of religion and conspiracy theories." (Publisher description)
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"This publication presents the comparative overview of the legal framework and practices related to ‘hate speech’ in six Member States of the European Union (EU): Austria, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland and the United Kingdom. The publication is based on six individual country reports commissio
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ned by ARTICLE 19 in 2017. The six country reports identified widespread deficiencies in the respective national frameworks on ‘hate speech’ in terms of their compatibility with applicable international freedom of expression standards, as well as inconsistencies in the application of existing legislation. In ARTICLE 19’s view, these deficiencies render the legal framework open to political abuse, including against precisely those minority groups that the law should protect. Moreover, the respective national frameworks generally fail to provide effective remedies to victims of ‘hate speech’, and are insufficient to enable instances of intercommunal tensions to be effectively resolved, or to enable poor social cohesion to be addressed." (Executive summary)
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"When Wyborcza.pl was launched back in 2008, besides its quality, one of the best things about it was that its content was freely accessible. Once the paywall was up in 2012, the publisher had to find a way to present this content differently. According to Bregula, this was the most important task w
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hen they introduced the paywall: audiences had to understand what was unique about content if they have to pay for it. This could be more reporting on local news or expanded foreign news coverage. Moreover, Gazeta Wyborzca learned that readers tend to pay if the coverage is relevant to them." (Page 12) - "Implementing a paywall at a time of severe financial pressure saved the site from closure (or reliance of foreign donors) and allowed Malaysiakini to grow into a stable, popular and important media presence. Advertising revenue only overtook subscription revenue eight years after the paywall was implemented [...] Underlying the success of this paywall is Malaysiakini’s uniqueness in providing independent news within a partially unfree media context. As such, the case of Malaysiakini’s paywall must be understood within the movements of wider political and ideological processes." (Page 24)
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"A RAND Corporation study examined Russian-language content on social media and the broader propaganda threat posed to the region of former Soviet states that include Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, and, to a lesser extent, Moldova and Belarus. In addition to employing a state-funded multilingu
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al television network, operating various Kremlin-supporting news websites, and working through several constellations of Russia-backed “civil society” organizations, Russia employs a sophisticated social media campaign that includes news tweets, nonattributed comments on web pages, troll and bot social media accounts, and fake hashtag and Twitter campaigns. Nowhere is this threat more tangible than in Ukraine, which has been an active propaganda battleground since the 2014 Ukrainian revolution. Other countries in the region look at Russia’s actions and annexation of Crimea and recognize the need to pay careful attention to Russia’s propaganda campaign. To conduct this study, RAND researchers employed a mixed-methods approach that used careful quantitative analysis of social media data to understand the scope of Russian social media campaigns combined with interviews with regional experts and U.S. and North Atlantic Treaty Organization security experts to understand the critical ingredients to countering this campaign." (Back cover)
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"The digitalisation has significantly changed the dynamics of journalism and the job of journalists. Journalism education should stay abreast of these changes. Against this background, we have analysed how academic journalism education in Germany, Hungary, Portugal and Romania teaches new skills nee
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ded for todays’ journalists. The key focus is on data journalism, collaborative journalism, new business models and ethical challenges for journalists in the digital age." (https://en.ejo.ch)
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"In sum, the representation of the several discussed topics – regional unions, regional cooperation organizations such as the EAEU, CIS, CSTO; Kyrgyz-Uzbek relations, Kyrgyz-Kazakh border conflict, Kyrgyz-Tajik relations and border issues, Central Asian integration, Central Asia and Caucasus, Cent
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ral Asia and Ukraine, Central Asia and Moldova, Russia as regional power etc. – provides a rich example of how differently the 15 websites frame the partnership between Central Asia, Caucasus, Ukraine and Moldova. Topics about Kyrgyzstan’s relationships with neighboring Central Asian countries are prevalent in most state-owned media." (Conclusion, page 35)
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